OYSTER CULTURE IN AMERICA. 797 



fully with a sharp-pointed, thin-bladed knife, and the upper 

 valve detached from the muscle, and then replaced. A 

 small wooden peg was then placed between the bills of the 

 shell, the valves tied tightly together with twine, and the 

 oyster wrapped in cotton cloth of a very open texture. 

 The whole was placed in alcohol. The wooden peg kept 

 the shell open sufficiently to allow the alcohol access to 

 the body of the animal, and the cloth wrapper prevented 

 the destruction or loss of anything of interest which might 

 be attached to the shell. Six parts of alcohol to four of 

 water were used, and to each specimen was attached a 

 wooden label, showing from whence the oyster came. 



BOTTOM AND WATER SPECIMENS. 

 The specimens of bottom were obtained from large 

 amounts of sand, mud, and gravel, brought up by the 

 dredge or tongs. When the bottom was hard, an ordinary 

 bottom specimen cup screwed into a 2 5 -pound lead was 

 used, but over the solid beds, or where the bottom was of 

 hard sand, it was very difficult to obtain anything, either 

 with dredge, tongs, or lead. 



The specimens of bottom were secured by using drop- 

 water cylinders. 



All the specimens were tested with a 

 hydrometer, and the readings reduced to those at the stan- 

 dard temperature of 60 F. 



SUBSTRATUM OF BOTTOM. 



The character of the bottom beneath the surface was 

 roughly ascertained by means of an iron probe, 5 feet in 

 length, attached to a long wooden staff. The probe was 

 thrust as far as possible into the bottom, and the compo- 

 sition and character of the substratum estimated, the dif- 

 ferent constituents, whether sand, shell, mud, clay, or 

 gravel, being easily recognized. Owing to the velocity of 



